Last week, I sat down with City Councilman and popular African-American entrepreneur Dennis Perkins to discuss his first ward primary campaign to keep his seat on the Democratic Town Committee.

Recently, Perkins and his primary slate members, Andrea Ramos and NAACP member Charlotte Abraham, have vigorously pushed back against toxic allegations against the freshman City Councilman by party loyalists who have accused Perkins and some Democrats of disloyalty to Mayor Alves and his initiatives.

Perkins was the town committee's only abstention vote against the town committee's resolution in support of Mayor Alves' unconventional approach to modifying the city's charter; critics of DDTC leadership believe the town committee's resolution was a means of placing pressure on Democrats on the City Council who are skeptical of the mayor's approach to revising the charter.

Perkins believed that any member of the City Council who also sits on the town committee acted inappropriately by taking a position on the charter while the matter was in front of the City Council.

The primary has caught the attention of area and state Democrats who are weary of the divisiveness and toxicity that has plagued the party for years, and gained significant attention as the party gained a foothold at City Hall.

My interview with Councilman Perkins and the DDTC's first ward slate is here.